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RSYC
J-24 Sailors at SSR
Written by Tim HILL
 When
I first started sailing with RSYC way back in 2002, we entered
three boats in the 8th Singapore Straits Regatta. It would
have been just two, but Kent Goeking managed to secure his
new boat Solarmax, a X-99 ready on the start line. This
year, 11 boats were sailing under the RSYC burgee, making
us the biggest club contributor to the event. Three of these
boats were the club-managed J-24s. Four of the other boats
were skippered and owned by members who had cut their keelboat
racing teeth on the club's J-24s. (It would have been five
but sadly Graham Lind's Oyster 35 Sumatra received a broadside
from a jet-ski at the King's Cup and was undergoing repairs).
J-24 fleet at the SSR. Photo by HO Shu Fen
It was great to see so many new faces who had joined us
just last year on the program. We welcomed the experience
of new members Carl Soderberg and his son Nick on RSYC Satu,
bringing a lot of race tips from their time in the USA.
Carl was joined by Kevin Lim and David Cooledge. Also new
to the club and to J-24 racing was Tom Bonehill who skippered
Jumping Jack for the first time in a major regatta, having
only just taken his Competent Crew course less than a year
earlier, with fellow crew-member and trim specialist Oliver
Wingrove. Jumping Jack's other club team members were Hayley
Hopkins and Tim Hill. And meanwhile, Raphael Phang helmed
RSYC Dua and was doubtless glad to have the experience of
club crew members such as Per Jensen, Suzannah Browning
and Nigel Gibbs on board. One of our regular skippers, Paul
Blackburn, sadly had to go on extended “MC” at
the end of December and was unable to take his place at
the tiller. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Although
we had managed many Saturday morning (Top Gun) sessions
since the RSYC Regatta in July, the wind and surf off Batam
was a bit more of a challenge than the forgiving conditions
at Pasir Panjang. But all participants had a great time
and learned stacks about racing. Our own team on Jumping
Jack had a couple of memorable incidents though. Especially
at the windward mark on Race 7 when another J-24 team of
Singapore's finest students from SMU collided with us and
put a cannonball-sized-hole in our starboard bow. We had
to drop out of the race to get repairs done back at Nongsa
Marina, but were up and ready for battle the following day.
The damaged bow probably could not sustain extreme wave
pressure, so we were lucky that the next and final race
kept us permanently on starboard tack all the way back to
Changi. For this we owe thanks to Sailing Executive Goh
Thye Hock who rushed to help out, minimise costs and kept
us on the water, as always.
It
was great to hear the enthusiasm from the other clubs towards
our sailing program. We may be lacking in silverware amongst
the J-24 sailors, but we're big on enthusiasm and growing
bigger on numbers all the time. And we're always open to
sailing members joining us for the Saturday morning sessions,
twilight races, club series races, cruises and other regattas.
If
you are interested to join the RSYC sailing programs, please
contact Nooraini, Sailing Executive, at 6768 9290 or
email sailing@rsyc.org.sg
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